


Thematic Similarities Within 1984 and New Danganronpa V3

by orphan_account



Category: 1984 - George Orwell, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Analysis, Character Study, Not a fic but a blog I had written for an amino challenge and wanted to post here, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Research
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:22:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24314221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A look into similar themes in New Danganronpa V3 and George Orwell's 1984.Originally uploaded to the Danganronpa Amino for the thematic literature challenge. This isn't a fic, just an analysis of common themes and how they benefit the story. I felt like uploading it here too.
Kudos: 4





	Thematic Similarities Within 1984 and New Danganronpa V3

**Author's Note:**

> I was able to complete this by writing for four hours straight yet couldn't sit down to write a 4 sentence paragraph for English I hate it here

The book 1984 by George Orwell tells the story of a man's struggles living in a society where nowhere is safe, not even your own head. The government had cameras everywhere, neighbors could and almost certainly would report you for saying anything against them, and everything you did was monitored. The government not only had the power to get rid of entire parts of history, but people themselves as well. 1984 has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in my freshman year, and it isn't that difficult to see how some of the themes present are also present in New Danganronpa V3. I will be covering three different themes present in both works and how the individual stories use these themes.

Totalitarianism

The first theme present in both works is totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is, by definition, a centralized and dictatorial system of government. 1984 was written a few years after World War Two, and at a time where the communist party was getting more support. Orwell's original purpose of his writing was to show what he believed the world would look like if communism was the accepted form of government worldwide.

Totalitarianism is present in 1984 almost everywhere. It is most present in The Party though, as when an event hadn't gone as planned, they had the power to erase the event from ever existing. If a person had done wrong and was taken by the Thought Police, The Party had the power to erase that person from ever existing. This process was called vaporizing, which did exactly as it was named. It vaporized information.

This theme is common in V3 as well, especially if you believe in Tsumugi during the last trial. It is present in the sense that Team Danganronpa is always monitoring the cast. They control what the cast remembers, and through the flashback lights they can either give them real memories or false ones, controlling what they believe. If you believe in the idea that Danganronpa is just a show and that the cast used to be different people, the idea that Team Danganronpa erased who the cast were before from the outside world to make society believe they are just fictional characters isn't too out there.

Self Identity

Living in a world where having an identity can get you killed, Winston, the protagonist of 1984, struggles with finding himself. His development is prompted by him buying a diary he saw in a store window. He writes his thoughts in the diary rather than thinking them so the Thought Police won't get to him. After he buys this diary, he starts doing things different in his life, things the government wouldn't like if they found out. He meets a girl and they start sleeping together and planning the downfall of the government in a friend's attic. His friend ends up being a spy, and right as he felt like he was his own person the government erased his memory and gave him a new personality. He's back to square one.

The theme of self identity is common in almost every character in V3, but I will focus on two characters with the most obvious self identity issues; Shuichi and Tsumugi. Maybe not issues, but development? Maybe.

Starting with Shuichi, his development is prompted by Kaede's death. He is surrounded by people who he feels are more talented than him or are just better than him in general. He struggles to feel like his talent is helpful enough for his new friends. As he gets closer to the cast, he realizes they're all just as flawed as he is, and as trials keep happening, he realizes he is useful but still feels the guilt of sending his friends to their death. In the final trial, he shows a great deal of confidence in both his talent and himself up until Tsumugi shows the audition tapes. For a second, he feels everything he's done has been useless. None of his friends who pushed him to become better were real, the person he was trying to become wasn't real. Still, with his newfound confidence, he decides to keep going and get out alive knowing what he knows anyways. Saihara is able to change the way he thinks about himself which ultimately is what makes him survive.

Tsumugi's major development didn't start until the final trial. She struggled significantly with her sense of self identity. She spends the whole game putting herself down as plain, saying people only notice her in cosplay. Revealing herself as the mastermind and cosplaying Junko, she tries to convince the remaining cast that's who she really is because she herself wants to believe that's who she really is. Junko is a huge influence on her, and all she really wanted was to be just like her. Unfortunately, her wanting to be so much like her idol ended up being her downfall.

Musical Significance

A final theme I won't go too much into is music. The symbolism of music is more present in 1984 than it is in V3, so I have picked one song from each to compare. 

In 1984, the song "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree" plays when Winston is in the cafe with his friends, all of them having just lost their jobs in the party. The song reflects just how they're feeling in the moment; broken. This song plays once more in the same cafe soon after Winston is released from captivity, but this time he is alone. The song still represents that feeling of brokenness, yet adds a more eerie tone as well as the old Winston no longer exists and he can't even tell that the emotion he feels is brokenness when he hears the song.

In V3, the piano melody of "Flea Waltz" enacts more fear and despair than "Let's Kill Each Other" does. While "Let's Kill Each Other" was less of a motive and more of a way to annoy the cast, "Flea Waltz" plays while Kaede is being actively tortured, and it is a part of the torture. The closer she gets to death, the more messed up the tune gets. The playing skill gets worse as the ultimate pianist is getting farther and farther from being able to play again. It is representative of her eventual death. Additionally, "Flea Waltz" is a beginner level piano song used mostly in warm-ups or note practice, so much like in 1984, it could also be showing a difference between the beginning and the end. In Winston's case, the beginning and ending of his rebellion. In Kaede's case, the beginning and ending of her life.

Closing

I was going to write a paragraph on characteristic similarities between Big Brother and Tsumugi, but Big Brother is more of an omniscient being represented by the government, and it's a lot harder to compare an omniscient being to a character. I was also going to write a different music paragraph about how the background music affected the mood and tone of a scene, but I couldn't find the 1984 movie anywhere and that part was mostly for a piano class project. Bits and pieces of the parts on 1984 were improved from an English essay I wrote a while ago so sorry if those are lower quality. Also I don't own a copy of the book (I got it from my school and public library, both of which are closed right now) so some sections may have inaccuracies to the original book. I tried not to write about parts I didn't remember too well, but in some parts I had to.

**Author's Note:**

> The edits I made for this are up on my Instagram @kanoshuuyairl and the amino post with the edits in the reading are on my account kanos


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